Need Assistance with Reporting and Dashboard Widgets

Ambika Sujir

Hello,

I'm working on a project to create a request intake form which then goes through approval workflows.

Based on the requests submitted I need to be able to do some basic reporting such as #of requests, #of requests by approval status, #of requests by function, breakdown by month to see month on month trend etc.

Every time I try to do something with the chart widget I hit the wall with the error "Selected data range cannot be charted. Please select a new range".

I have tried everything from using sheets as the source, creating a report and using it as a source, creating a report with only a small subset of the columns and using that as a source. Nothing seems to work. It's a hit or a miss scenario with the error.

At times when I don't get the error, I'm unable to select the columns that I want to use in the charts, its defaulted to all columns and I cannot edit it.

Any inputs here would be helpful. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks,

Ambika

Andrée Starå

Hi @Ambika Sujir

I hope you're well and safe!

Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@workbold.com)

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Genevieve P.

Hi @Ambika Sujir

Chart Widgets require numerical data in order to turn that information into a graph or chart. This means that it won't be able to tell from just your rows how many rows say "this" or "that". You'll need to either use formulas (like a COUNTIF formula) to return a number based on your criteria, or I would suggest creating a Report instead!

Keep in mind if you go the Report route, you'll need to also Summarize your data to have a number appear in the grouped rows. (See this webinar on Grouping and Summary: Redesigned Reports with Grouping and Summary Functions)

When Reports are used as a source, the Chart Widget will select the entire Report (you cannot customize what rows to select). Instead, you'll want to ensure your Report filters and criteria only show the data you want Charted. See: Using Chart Widgets

Then you can select what columns you want to see in the chart from the menu on the right:

Let me know if this has helped! If not, I agree with Andrée that it would be useful to see a screen capture of your source data, but please block out any sensitive information.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Ambika Sujir

Hello @Andrée Starå and @Genevieve P. for the quick response.

My understanding was that if I use a sheet/report as the data source all I had to do was select the appropriate columns which would summarize/aggregate in the charts like in Excel.

I will try to create a report with the numerical fields that I'm interested in and try it that way.

Thanks,

Ambika